Tom Clancy’s The Division

If you missed out on Ubisoft’s E3 conference last week, you probably missed out on the unveiling of a new and unique episode in their long line of Tom Clancy-derived games: The Division. The story unwinds as follows:

“A devastating pandemic sweeps through New York City, and one by one, basic services fail. In only days, without food or water, society collapses into chaos. The Division, a classified unit of self-supported tactical agents, is activated. Leading seemingly ordinary lives among us, The Division agents are trained to operate independently of command, as all else fails.

Fighting to prevent the fall of society, the agents will find themselves caught up in an epic conspiracy, forced to combat not only the effects of a man-made virus, but also the rising threat of those behind it. When everything collapses, your mission begins.”

Interestingly enough, The Division takes a stab at uncovered ground for Ubisoft’s Clancy franchise as it slides into the MMORPG genre. Seven minutes worth of gameplay unveiled at the conference revealed a polished, detailed, next-gen representation of lawless New York. A classless player system with customizable skills, weapons, and gear look to create a rich virtual world as you pit yourself against both the AI and other players. Check out the aforementioned gameplay video below.

As for platform and release dates, the game is set to come out next year on (cue drum-roll) next-gen consoles only. That’s right. Thus far it appears PC-goers wanting to dabble in the world of The Division will have to grab a PS4 or Xbox One if they want to roam around the apocalyptic Big Apple. However, the game will support some interactions via smartphone and tablet for remote gaming experience as Ubisoft apparently hops onto the inter-device communication bandwagon.

Kelsey is a university student with hopes of one day making the plunge into the game industry. When not training to be a ninja, she can be found enjoying literature, bonding with her primarily Xbox 360-orientated video game collection, exercising her love of film-making, or stalking Gabe Newell and Peter Molyneux.